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1. |
Broken Drums
04:14
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What do you aspire to be?
A certified monster rhyming on the mightiest beats
Or a final supper reseller buying a seat
Or a viral sensation with a violent disease?
See the cats you idolize are the ones that I despise
And just cause I’m older doesn’t mean that I am wise
over the years I’ve grown a bit with showmanship and I’m prone to rip
The microphone to bits and by the time i get to Arizona it’s a bonus with
Arvydis with a pair of knees with which he’d dominate the game
Rules have changed, a complicated aim
It’s more than just a case of generational gaps
Our destinations are found in different cases of maps
I was using a compass, now it’s GPS
New accomplishments feel like a cheat sheet rep
I can try to appreciate it, but it isn’t for me
So I can complain about it or make a blizzard to beats
See, dues are paid in such different ways
& me being hard headed is a trip to the grave
So now I’m making raps for the fan that I once was
And hopefully you will hear and think that it’s fun stuff
Take your kids and your hold them tight
Life is just a rolling dice
Trapped within a molten vice
Basking in the poltergeist
A basket that is rolling faster, passengers on colder nights
Another yarn spun, unraveling on shoulders, high
Not guardian or gatekeeper, just a guy who loves to rap
DJ, if the song is dope, please run it back
Never made a ton of scratch, my resume is a hobbyist
Got a white beard, but not making a good and naughty list
Who am I to judge, bitterness it can creep fast
And then build walls before I even get to breathe...that
Can prove problematic, so step back
Catch a bird’s eye view seems to be the best path
Need to be more bamboo and less glass
And realize it’s not my call to call if they have trespassed
I am but one in a land of many and not a center piece
But it’s too easy to slide into a pattern of bitter venom speech
My ambition is fully clothed, there’s no nakedness
I don’t even like tank tops, so save the glitz
Courageously raging against machines and petroleum
But nonetheless a hypocrite, see the ride that I’m rolling in
Emboldened whims going out on limbs for the sake of sport
I camped by the radio with blanks just to tape some more
American Top Forty my satellite was cream colored
A double A powered Sputnik guided by Kasey Kasem
Waiting, anxiously hoping for Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Holding off emaciation with a mix tape’s creation
Less sophisticated but plenty more idealistic
That tricky balance is exactly what I feel this is
A field of misses, dreams that scream and squeal, resistant
interrupted by seams that have ruptured, thus revealed the schism
Appeal is hidden between the fissures that refuse to heal
Who needs a boost when this is life already too surreal
No medicine provides replenishment, pariah benefits
I keep itemizing betterment, like life is edited
Surprise the measuring tape longer than my path was
My life is half up, bodily husk shuffling half dusk
Can’t trust the voltage running through this scatterbrain of mine
Steadily getting played, even though I had a game in mind
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2. |
Dope Shadow
04:37
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Time to turn all these loose papers into dope raps
Crumpled ideas by the pocketful of hope’s salve
The creases tend to eat my lines and make it difficult
To recapture what was written, citizen who’s cynical
Hidden in the interval is ink poured for sacrifices
A measure of time spent and that’s the crisis
Making time to get it right cause otherwise
That puff of pride is long gone and nothing thrives
In the dead of night, fatigue is fought
And if inspiration dies, well indeed it’s lost
Got me screaming from the top of my lungs
Cause when I wrote it, that was going to be the best that song that I’d ever done
Now it’s gone and all I’m left with is the could have beens
Another crooked conclusion caught upon a look within
Brushed under the rug with the elephant tusks
Making something for them and then they sell it as us
Make it catchy for the trust fall and zealots erupt
Enveloped in inelegant lust I’m telling them,p.us
So cop the freshest that won’t fade with obsolescence
No gobs of weapons, just dope phrases, stop and reckon
Some sought the essence and donate a thoughtful message
My man Jake’s got the gold chains, I’m off the record
See, I walk with a talkative ethic, hip hop in its essence
topical or getting into awesome preventive
Dominant medic embedded my exoskeleton
find my rep and connect the deffest of embellishments
Ego next to swell against the walls that this world assembles
Curl the tendrils and hold me close to the pure essentials
My burden’s mental, booming system with a nervous central
Found inside it, when my thoughts get deep the ground is highest
Tobias sound messiah with proprietary flights that vary
Traveling, or just a passerby
If you think it’s all about the dollars, you’re dead wrong
I don’t do features, I drop raps on friends’ songs
Mutual respect, not shoot me a check
Couldn’t make me bat an eye with aluminum threats
Who are you to impress, the stress is ruinous, yes
Subdued human with a movement direct, beats are Rubenesque
Thick and beautiful, my gloomy days depict a funeral
Elicit musical ways to freeze the state of usual
Utilizing suitable tools until my mood arises
Elusive prices paid for usage of a gruesome crisis
A noose suffices for a truth replacement, true amazement
Building fallen kingdoms coming in pursuit of Vegas
Peruse the pages that I’ve drowned in blood from many fallen pens
Divining purpose in the passages I call intent
For all the gems taken to make the streets the foolish gold tread
I hold threads of dreams, arisen in a cold sweat
While most slept, the mold crept and overcame
Cracked earth burning midnight oil the hope of rain
A chosen name weighed against the birth certificate
Is the curse to see it all or simply worse to live in it
Determined juggling cynical thoughts and idealism
The more I know, the less I care for this surreal prism
Determined juggling cynical thoughts and idealism
The more I know, the less I care for this surreal prism
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3. |
Rappers in Cars
03:49
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I’ve got some talented eyeballs y’all, they earn wrinkles
Blinking the same time as most turn signals
Wait...you’re telling me that folks don’t use them?
It’s cool, go ahead and break those rules friend
They’re only there to get broken right?
Government, look at them, trying to provoke a fight
Sometimes, a flickering brake light’s the clue
So I’m following, yet providing plenty of room
It’s not that I don’t trust you, I don’t trust you
Defensive driving’s simply something I must do
I’ve got insurance, but I kind of dig the car I have
Sore necks and pain pills, I want no part of that
Wouldn’t mind a garage instead of a gravel pit to park in back
But it’s off the narrow roads so good at getting cars a scratch
My car’s got a game it plays to petrify
Tells me a tire is low, but it just won’t specify
I’m not superhuman zooming, I’ve just driving man
On some point A to point B, check the diagram
Plus your diaphragm cause you’re overenthused
Look we’ve all got to share these roads that we use
I’ll pull to the side to let oncoming traffic drive through
Then they act like I’m not there, like what did I do?
I guess my kindness got mistaken for invisible cloaks
So I may play chicken in my Prius like ‘nope’
You shall not pass, Kobe jersey on your hot trash
Wooden spoiler on your car chopped up in shop class
See tough actin’ in bubbly tint and blackeded rims
Cussed me out my 3 year old waved, what’s happening?
Now you’re feeling guilty cause I’ve got a little passenger
And you used some choice vocab when you had the nerve
You spun and zoomed your cool ride the other way
I’ll take your tire wear for an apology, so what they hey
You’re stressed, I’m chilling, you know, driving sons and such
Coming home from the splash pad, having fun, what’s up?
Look, I’m sorry that your job is wack
But don’t take it out on me that you spent it on that
I want to live to old an age, so donate your road rage
It goes great with flame decals on your motorhome, beige
And okay, if you want to ride my bumper just go ahead
I’ll just hit cruise control at the speed limit, no regrets
sweat got you soaking wet, stressed with some gasoline
Fort Wayne Fury, flash back to Master P
Miles per gallon seems like pretty simple math to me
I’ll hit the Waze app to find my way back from Abilene
What’s happening with people parking in the middle of the road?
Holding conversations, either pull aside or go
I mean, aren’t streets built for bikes and cars to roll on?
Unless you’re Kurt Russell broken down, then I am so wrong
And my apologies, I’d help push but I’ve got crutches man
If not, heed Luda’s advice, duck and scram
Broken rearview on my right hand side
7 years of bad backing up luck on my ride
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4. |
Pain in the Business
03:23
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What you see is what you get
Suckers sweat like octopuses hovering above a puffing vent
What the heck, go ahead and rubberneck
Blowing a gasket, focused and dope as it has been
Chosen to go for Jurassic, and that’s the butter rep
Certified to burn a mic to filaments, my mind is villainous
Still it is meaning something, the beat is bumping illnesses
Wandering round the wilderness with a couple of thrilling kids
My sons who run, get out of breath, dressed in killer kicks
But I snagged them on super clearance, and so I’m fine with it
Life’s too short to keep kid kicks shiny slick
They don’t have shoebox homes like the kind that mine do
Except for the pairs they’ll grow into as time moves
future shoes, Akronites, Pennys, New Balances,
Reeboks, adidas indeed there is plenty to stack in sight
Tony’s pizza with the Rolando flip, lyric touch of fresh
baker’s dozen cassettes at the ready to bust and crush the deck
Welcome to the track, Pain in the Business
Pain in the Business, What’s that? Pain in the Business
Take a swoop of soup with the ladle and sip it
Creatively, we made it exquisite admittedly painting it vivid
Examining the depth of my navel
Inevitably gets to residency of age old
Places that I used to call home with no welcome mat
And sleep is where i’d go when I felt attacked
I’d seldom act on ideas that born from those times
But that doesn’t mean i didn’t consider them mine
Perhaps that’s why evil is easy to write to me
I try to live righteously vibing inside of society
The rivalry between good and evil in me is minor league
Evil really doesn’t stand a chance, struggling mightily
Not gaining any ground but it poses with grimaces
Trying to convince i it’s global and limitless
It’s broken into itty bits, so cute and hideous
Blisters on its tongue from calling other dudes some idiots
But looking in that mirror is the scariest act
everyone else is to blame when the air, it is black
And that’s a fact
For Christmas, I got a how to be garbage rapper kit
Half a lung, half a tongue, ...and even half a wit
...miraculously enough i got an upgrade
Cause this is how to get enough pay in such days
recording to my phone with Walter screaming in the background
dad libs of brotherhood and that’s now
I’m representing life experience despite the weariness
So thankful for the people who are taking time to hear a bit
Honestly, I’m taken aback when hearing dudes are playing tracks
To inspire others is about the dopest gauge of dap
Some folks bump songs I forgot that i wrote
Then I go back to the track and realize that it’s dope
Apparently my catalog is stronger than my memory
And somewhere, Tupac is sipping Hennessy with enemies
I couldn’t resist, the groove is a superconductor and I’m powerless
I call Fort Wayne home and I’m dope, that’s how it is
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5. |
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And that skateboard of mine became a passport
A urethane wheeled limousine complete with crash course
Right thumb permanently bigger than my left one
Screaming voiceless when all my breath had left lungs
The friendships I made continue to this very day
The nervous bank teller hoping boys would go their merry way
Running from the mall security, hauling down back alleys
Green light means go, scared hearts in that valley
Cleaning out the bearings, swapping out the decks and trucks
Maintenance was a favorite, could never get enough
Summer job money gave me fuel to keep the habit up
Slimeballs and some Thunder trucks, I'm nabbing stuff
Had a Gator sweatshirt before he had went nuts
Silkscreened my own Bones Brigade sweatshirt, but the S sucked
Looked kind of like an R and that was junior high days
Speed wobbles were a killer, board it would vibrate
The colder a day, the longer the sting of a fall would last
Got myself leather gloves with the foam for the crash
Calling time and temp hoping the rain wouldn't fall
Wishing we had a skatepark and instead of a mall
Chris, Trevor, Ben, and myself, riding skateboards
The only thing I really wanted to do was skate more
We weren't that great, but we had a lot of fun with it
Same terrain came with new thrills with the sun hidden
Caballero with the Boneite, rolling on Vision XTs
Independent 159s and Schmitt Stix
Powell Peralta tail bone kept my ollies guilt free
My first pro model to this day I can still see
Snapped my Roskopp street at the bandstand
Blamed it on the narrow hip area, Van Damme
Each left kick ended up coated in shoe goo
The grip tape versus shoe battle that shoes lose
Cutting grip tape in ill ways with the snap blades
Finishing the job with paint pens to pass the black days
Mike McGill skull and snake taught me how to illustrate
Pretty much all I drew and did the illest takes
Animal Chin didn’t need to sweat me spilling beans
Skate videos constantly supplied the illest dreams
Bass line, Black Flag’s six pack mesmerized me
That I followed those breadcrumbs to more tunes was less suprising
Playing skate or die on my friend's Nintendo
And 720 on the Atari gnarly crescendo
Eighth grade dyed my bangs at Eric Bunde's with raw bleach
Right before school picture day, I'm the boss, please
Hook
The clinic parking curb so slick that we were scared of it
Hit that parking lot but wouldn’t dare touch it
Skating in my basement in the coldest Minnesota winters
Ducking so I didn’t clip my head, getting rolled and injured
Our bible, the California Cheap Skates catalog
And pretty much any dimension I could rattle off
Minis and fulls, wheel durometers and and truck widths
Thumbing through those worn pages gave me such bliss
The ramp you had to find a notary to sign the waiver for
Legendary older skaters, greater than the ways we tore
Riding down hill in the middle of the road
Invincibility is for the young who didn't know
Skateboarding isn't a crime, slap the sticker up
Ask my spattered Micky Alba shirt, I'm giving blood
Old scabs spilling fresh red after new falls
The abbatoir look complete with a few crawls
Had a pair of monster Rectors keeping my knees safe
Felt like a bullet proof jacket for each leg
Skatemaster Tate selling tapes on the back of Thrasher
Transworld felt like a sellout cause passion matters
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Sankofa Fort Wayne
My rhymes kick in like a turbobooster.
Fort Wayne.
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